I remember many MPs lost their parliamentary seats for having dual nationalities. So, when will the CJ be taking somoto action on this?
Britain’s first Muslim MP Mohammed Sarwar appointed governor of Punjab - Telegraph
r Sarwar, whose 1997 victory in Glasgow Govan made him Westminster’s first MP to swear his oath on the Koran, will take up the role in Pakistan’s largest province.
In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, he said he had taken the decision to return to the country of his birth because he believed his experience as an MP, select committee chairman and successful businessman in Britain could help poor families in Pakistan.
He will work for Nawaz Sharif’s government and with Gordon Brown, the former British Prime Minister and now UN special envoy on education, to raise literacy levels in the country and bring more than seven million children into the school system.
Mr Sarwar was born in Saleempur in Pakistan’s Punjab province and moved to Britain in 1978 after studying politics at Faisalabad University. He and his brother set up a Glasgow cash and carry business which made him a multi-millionaire.
He won the Glasgow Govan seat in the 1997 election after a bitter selection contest but was soon suspended and charged with bribing a rival candidate to make a false statement. He was acquitted and went on to become chairman of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee before standing down as an MP in 2010.
Since then he has travelled regularly to Pakistan for his health and education charities. His two hospitals treat 120,000 patients a year.
He helped pave the way for Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif’s election victory earlier this year by playing a key role in choosing the party’s candidates for key constituencies.
Mr Sharif, whose victory made him Pakistan’s first three term prime minister, sought to reward him for his role by inviting him to be his new High Commissioner in London, but Mr Sawar rejected the offer in favour of a return to Pakistan.
He told the Telegraph he had been forced to renounce his British nationality because Pakistan law forbids ministers and senior officials from holding dual nationality.
"People say life begins at 40, but I’ll be 61 soon and I believe life begins at 60.
“It was a difficult decision. My children were raised [in Glasgow], my grandchildren are there and I’m going to miss them but sometimes you have to make difficult decisions for the greater good,” he said.
Pakistan is facing a debilitating electricity crisis and a deadly terrorist insurgency, but he wanted to focus on education, he said, to raise Pakistan from its current position as the world’s second most illiterate country.
His wife will live with him for part of the year in their farmhouse in Punjab’s Faisalabad district, and he will return regularly to Glasgow for holidays, he said.
"The main challenges are that people don’t give up their faith in democracy and the seven million children who have never been to school, to make sure these kids are at school.
“I’m going to be working very closely with Gordon Brown, both of us will be working on education in Pakistan, on an ambitious plan to put 3.5 million kids into schools over the next three years. It’s education, education, education,” he said.
He had been pleasantly surprised by David Cameron’s decision to keep plans to increase Britain’s aid budget to 0.7 per cent of spending. “I’m happy the Conservative party has stuck to that. Our British nation is internationalist,” he said.
“The passion of my life has always been fighting poverty, particularly child poverty, and people in my constituency loved that. what I’m leaving behind is great memories of Scotland, my children being born there, and the respect and honour given to me by the people of Glasgow,” he added.
